


Take this for Myself

by 401



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Insomnia, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 09:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4662366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/401/pseuds/401
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes has not slept for four days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take this for Myself

**Author's Note:**

> this is really short sorry

“I’m so tired, Steve.”

Steve nodded in the dark, continuing the hopeless rocking in the dark of their bedroom, left and right, left and right, squeezing Bucky’s trembling shoulders to his chest.

They were on day four without Bucky sleeping and the soldier had gotten to the point at which even his crying was barely audible against Steve’s skin. Exhaustion had turned what had been either frustrated silence or angry sobs at the beginning of the week, into weak, gasping little cries as flashback after flashback tore through Bucky’s fatigued mind.

Steve wiped Bucky’s hot damp cheek with his thumb and lifted his titanium left hand up to it to cool it down. Bucky shifted away from his own touch, recoiling further into Steve’s dense warmth.

His own unyielding impersonality and cold was the last thing he wanted to feel; his brain was already shrouded in it, images of his own merciless and autonomous slayings played on steady repeat behind his rest-starved eyes.

“Keep trying, Bucky,” Steve whispered, kissing Bucky’s forehead, “You’ll get there.”

He had to. Steve did not know how long a human, even an enhanced one, could go without sleep before things started to shut down. He had spoken to Tony and Bruce, who has said by day three his body would give in to sleep, even if his mind was in overdrive. The shadows on the walls in the dark bedroom had already taken on a menacing independence for Bucky, warping and flexing in a strange, uncontrolled way that made him jump and lose focus. Steve wondered how much longer it was until this lack of clarity moved to full hallucinations.

“I can’t do it Steve,” Bucky’s voice was hoarse and limp, “It won’t stop, I ca…”

Steve pressed his lips to Bucky’s, a deep, slow and anchoring kiss that hitched breaths and coloured cheeks. Bucky’s shoulders started to uncoil as Steve’s mouth moved against his, the hot slide of tongues and hands over aching muscles temporarily piercing the cloud of anxiety and exhaustion.

Steve pulled away, resting his nose against Bucky’s and sighing.

“If I could take this away and have it for myself, I would,” Steve groaned.

The helplessness of the whole situation was one of the worst parts. There was not much that the Captain felt like he could offer besides comfort and reliability so when that failed, he was left with not many ideas and pieces of the man he loved slipping through his fingers.

“I wouldn’t let you take it,” Bucky said, pulling Steve down flat on the bed and burrowing into his side, closing his eyes against bare skin and moving his cheek so that it didn’t stick.

Steve smiled at the ceiling and smoothed Bucky’s hair absently.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Steve chuckled, “Too damn stubborn if you ask me.”

Bucky did not reply, the fog of four days of exhaustion drowning his words and dragging into the heat that surrounded him.

 

Even the strongest of winters could not withstand that warmth.


End file.
